Writers Guild Announces Video Game Award Nominees

Did you know the Writers Guild of America gives an award for outstanding writing in a video game? Well, you do now.

On Wednesday, Deadline divulged the WGA's finalists for the achievement for the 2012 award. The Writers Guild Awards will take place on Feb. 17th, and one of the following games will be recognized for its contributions to not just gaming, but in overall writing for new media as well.

It shouldn't come as much of a surprise to learn Halo 4 (Narrative Design by Christopher Schlerf) and Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Written By John Garvin) were both nominated. Both franchises have a history of being well-regarded for their storylines. Assassin's Creed 3 (Story by Alex Hutchinson, Corey May, Matt Turner; Multiplayer Story By Richard Farrese, Jeffrey Yohalem; Lead Scriptwriter Corey May; Scriptwriters Nicholas Grimwood, Russell Lees, Matt Turner, Danny Wallace, Ceri Young) is also a good choice, as though the game itself may have been plagued by some issues, the overall narrative was pretty strong and stood out above many of its peers for that very reason. Disney Epic Mickey 2 (Writing Consultant Marv Wolfman) earned a spot on the list as well, though in our humble opinion, it's not quite up to the level of its competition.

Now, the WGA has also nominated two games that are, to be honest, quite baffling. Assassin's Creed Liberation (Scriptwriting by Richard Farrese, Jill Murray) was virtually incoherent, with little tying the game's various missions together cohesively. 007 Legends (Written by Bruce Feirstein) also earned a nod, which makes little to no sense whatsoever. The game wasn't even complete when it shipped, and was basically a hodgepodge of the Bond movies. How a game like this could be nominated while Borderlands 2 and The Walking Dead are left to watch from the sidelines is quite curious.

Just which of the games will win is anyone's guess, but with just about a month until the event, we certainly won't have to wait long to find out.